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Monday, January 28, 2013

Stuff I'm Listening To

There's a lot of hubub out there about music curation these days. The way I see it, music and our musical listening habits are so fickle (don't you listen to different things at different times for different moods?) that finding the 'perfect' curation service is impossible. What is possible is finding someone who has similar listening habits and seeing what they come up with. Which is why music blogs are so popular.

I'm guessing since you are here that at some point I posted something you liked, so in an effort to better serve you, dear readers, I'm going to periodically post a playlist of what I'm listening to. Most of the time it will be an aggregate of artists or songs I may have posted about on here, along with whatever other random stuff I can't get out of my head. And, with a little luck, maybe you'll find something you like too.

Here's the first installment of Why I'm Not Sleeping: A Playlist. Hope you enjoy it.

On the list:Time to Run- Lord Huron

Put Me To Work- Papa

Bigger Than Love- Ben Gibbard and Aimee MannBen was on the Colbert Report recently where he played this song, along with Aimee Mann. Its off of Ben's solo album Former Lives. Sadly, this song is the only one that is available on streaming services such as Spotify, which is my main source of music so I can't tell you what the rest of the album is like, but this song is typical of Ben and his Death Cab sound.

Love Letter- Clairy Browne & The Bangin' Rackettes

I have no idea where I heard this song, but I love the old school sound mixed in with updated guitar and sounds.

Tongue Tied- Grouplove

This song has been out over a year, but its one of those songs I forget about and then when I hear it, I'm happy its back.

Eyes Wide Open- Gotye

Everyone's allll about "Somebody That I Used to Know" (a track that I am just going to come clean and say it never really did anything for me), but there are other great underrated Gotye songs off his album Making Mirrors, and this is one of them.

Lady Luck- Pickwick with Sharon Van Etten

I discovered this song from Songs for the Day and have been obsessed with it nonstop since. Its such a cool vibe and great beat that it will have you bopping your head like a turntable.fm avatar in no time.

This is played on a local, non-crappy radio station here in LA (88.5 KCSN) occasionally, and every time I hear it it takes me a minute to figure out what song it is, leaving me strangely surprised that its John Mayer every time I figure it out. I kind of forget how much I like Born and Raised sometimes.

Spies and Lovers- Red Wanting Blue

Hope on a Rope- Red Wanting Blue

Red Wanting Blue were recently on NPR Music's Live From Mountain Stage and performed a couple of songs that have been stuck in my head since. A hard working, perpetually touring band (except for stops in LA, ahem), these guys have a sound made for live. But if you can't see them live, check them out here.

This has long been one of my favorite Simon & Garfunkel performances (on Sounds of Silence) and this week Songs for the Day posted a video of First Aid Kit doing a cover. It could not have been more perfect, and served as the vehicle to re-usher this beautiful and simply lovely song back into my life.

Brighter Lights - Patrick James

All About to Change- Patrick James

I discovered this guy from a music blog- New Music Collaborative, to be exact. I listened, and I liked what I heard. A lot. Maybe you will too.

Sarah- Ray LaMontagne

Just because. I love Ray and I love this song and it makes me think of Astral Weeks by Van Morrison and just plain old make me happy. And happy that it somehow found its way to my ears this week.

Here are the playlists for Spotify, iTunes, and the MP3's for Amazon. Enjoy!